Sad state 081016

This is the time for all good men to come to the of their country.  An old typing drill phrase that has taken on new relevance in American 2016 electioneering.  It is truly a sad state of affairs for democracy when the will of minority extremes can leave the majority with only bad options.  The majority's sadness may lead to an end of the two party system that served as moderator of the electorate's emotional swings.

A key axiom of democracy is that it reflects the will of a well informed majority, it is sad that the majority isn't well informed and abandons honest information for minority rants.  How is this possible in the information age?  It may actually be a product of the information age that has led to the sad state of the "fourth estate" (journalism).   Thoughtful print journalist are a dying breed whose graves are being dug by a public to busy to think or even read, seeing only misleading, flashy sound bites.

Television news opened with great promise as respected print reporters provided depth to the 15 minute news window that interrupted the revenue flow of entertainment.  The networks discovered that TV news provided prestige offsetting poor ratings and expanded the news window.  Competition between networks' news programs began generating a revenue flow, which lifted news out of public service category.  Its new status didn't lead to a better informed public but rather a less knowledgeable  one.

Craggy old reporters began to age out of talking head shots replaced by a new breed of "beautiful people journalist."  Unable to phantom dynamic news the beautiful people embraced entertainment formats, sadly the sound and fury of sound bites that replace substance mesmerized viewers.  "It's not news without video" with spectacular visuals coloring editorial judgements.  Conflicting on screen messages where voice, video and visuals don't match confuses viewers.  Even if TV journalists manages to get the story they add wild-eyed speculation mudding perceptions. Sadly election "16" is the product of news windows where bad jokes, speculation and self-promoting chitchat of news personalities seeking stardom in larger markets color the news.  Sadly this self-aggrandizement also limits the available minutes for even the misleading sound bites. `

All the news that's fit to print died with the broad sheet.  News execs quote Thomas Jefferson as the guru of free press but ignore the fact that as president he tried to censor the news and control the message.  It's sad that is the only message that came through to politicians was demonizing truth and a free press, works

While newspapers struggle with TV, it struggles against the new Internet news, now competing with social media for market share.  Media theorist applauds the proliferation of news outlets as the ultimate guaranteed of democracy.  Sadly when tested the theory fails the test of informed polity.  Despite all the new outlets the 21st century public is less informed than 19th century's publics.

Social media was credited for the "Arab spring" which failed to bring democracy, only instability.   Social media has demonstrated a certain degree of democracy since anyone can incite a mob and fan hate, but mobs go in unexpected direction. In England an unexpected outcome was Brexit, in the United States the results of election are still to be determined but lack of a well-informed electorate results in two despised candidates chosen by social media minorities.  The sadness will continue to play out as the voices continue to twist mob opinions.  The real sadness is our heritage to the future is destabilization of orders as media flails public knowledge with colorful fun entertainment. States are really in a sad state as they crumble before social media mob voices.